For years I have recommend the book Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction by Isabel Beck, Margaret McKeown, and Linda Kucan to teachers of all grade levels. It is a great resource for learning how to teach vocabulary as well as how to choose which words to teach. Over the summer, I decided to reread it. As an educator who loves learn new things and share, I loaned my book out and it was never returned. So, I had no choice but to order a new one. This time I ordered the second edition.
The second edition is a page turner. (I am a nerd!) It may be because I am in a different place in my professional career or that I had tunnel vision when I read the original book, but I missed a big idea. There is more to choosing words to teach than I initially thought.
What remains the same is that we should not choose words just because we think students do not know them. As is outlined on page 28, words should be chosen based on importance and utility, conceptual understanding, and instructional potential. Put simply, we choose words that we can use over and over again, words that are important to understand the big idea of the text, and words that can be used in other academic areas. I have preached this more times than can be imagined, but I missed a piece.
The critical piece that I missed was that we must consider “the utility of words for use in both comprehension and composition as the priority” (p.25). Students need words that serve them well in building their comprehension of a text as well as creating relevant compositions. Word knowledge is needed for both reading and writing. I have been missing the writing component!
The average student has a lot of words they are able to use and understand in their oral language. Students are much more limited in the words they can use to express themselves in writing. It is specific, content rich words that create an exact meaning. Word knowledge extends beyond processing word meaning to producing and expressing a thought. Attention to choosing and teaching words that will both increase reading comprehension and develop student writers must be given equal attention.
Sonya Louviere, Ed.D.
Sonya Louviere, Ed.D.
